Cambodia Flooding Said Worst in Decade

By By Jim Andrews, Accuweather.com Senior Meteorologist

October 07, 2011, 1:22:23 AM EDT

At least 167 people have died in Cambodia amid what has been called the "worst floods in a decade."

Children among the dead numbered 68, according to a report by the Straits Times on Wednesday.

Nearly two months of heavy rain and flooding have hit areas of Indochina, swelling its biggest river, the Mekong. The Mekong flows directly through the heart of Cambodia and its capital city, Phnom Penh, where it has overflowed its banks.

A disaster management official put at 740,000 acres the extent of rice paddies inundated by the flooding, the Times said. More than 23,000 families had to be evacuated to higher ground.

Costly damage to homes, schools, roads and other public infrastructure were also cited.

The report of flooding comes at a time when neighboring Thailand is also suffering some of its worst flooding on record. Flooding deaths in Thailand are more than 200, according to multiple reports this week.

The flooding in the two countries is related, as the unusually heavy rainfall triggering it has been regional in extent. Parts of northern Thailand have had at least twice the normal rainfall since the start of August. September is usually among the wettest months of the year.

A team of United Kingdom-based researchers discovered "life's precursor molecules" housed in extraterrestrial salt crystals collected from two ancient meteorites that date back to the formation of the solar system.